Sorry, this will probably be very long.
My wife (37) and I (f32) have had a troublesome past (mostly mental health issues) and are just now getting to a place in life we can consider having kids (stable jobs, decent finances, own apartment, mental health in better shape, etc.). For medical reasons, I'll be the one to carry the pregnancy. We only have access to 7 vials of frozen sperm (not great quality) and we were told we'll definitely need IVF.
As preparation, I'm currently tapering off my antidepressant (Milnacipran, no data available for use in pregnancy at all), of course with the knowledge of my doctor (though my psychiatrist moved shortly before I wanted to discuss tapering off, so I only have a general practitioner for now). I'm down to a quarter of the dosage I was on for the last three years and I think I'm doing fine so far, so I'm actually starting to get hopeful. I'll stay at this lower dosage until I'm off BC and hopefully I'll be able to completely stop taking it before starting the fertility treatment. (Plan B would be switching to an antidepressant that's better studied for use in pregnancy, Plan C would be the lowest effective dosage of the one I know works for me, Plan D would be adopting cats instead of getting kids.)
I'm on BC right now because I had very strong and long periods, with sometimes bad cramps and iron deficiency. I'll probably have to get iron supplements as soon as my period gets back to "my normal", but if/when my period stops during pregnancy, that'll hopefully sort itself out again. I don't take any prenatal vitamins yet, but I take vitamin D since I'm not in the sunlight much and I have some mixed vitamins that are supposed to reduce headaches, which has folic acid in it. I'll probably switch to prenatal vitamins soonish. But I think switching now would be a little early since the process of getting off BC and the antidepressant will take a few more months and I expect the appointments and insurance beaurocracy to take some more. So I don't really expect to have a chance at a pregnancy before next autumn.
Since I don't have anyone close who needed IVF or who got pregnant despite having severe depression in the past, I'm not really sure if any of this is realistic. We'll have a first consultation at a fertility clinic next month and I hope they can give us more info and guidance on how to proceed. But if any of you beautiful people on reddit have some advice or tips, or can give me a reassurance that my current plan is decently realistic, I'd appreciate it a lot.
My wife (37) and I (f32) have had a troublesome past (mostly mental health issues) and are just now getting to a place in life we can consider having kids (stable jobs, decent finances, own apartment, mental health in better shape, etc.). For medical reasons, I'll be the one to carry the pregnancy. We only have access to 7 vials of frozen sperm (not great quality) and we were told we'll definitely need IVF.
As preparation, I'm currently tapering off my antidepressant (Milnacipran, no data available for use in pregnancy at all), of course with the knowledge of my doctor (though my psychiatrist moved shortly before I wanted to discuss tapering off, so I only have a general practitioner for now). I'm down to a quarter of the dosage I was on for the last three years and I think I'm doing fine so far, so I'm actually starting to get hopeful. I'll stay at this lower dosage until I'm off BC and hopefully I'll be able to completely stop taking it before starting the fertility treatment. (Plan B would be switching to an antidepressant that's better studied for use in pregnancy, Plan C would be the lowest effective dosage of the one I know works for me, Plan D would be adopting cats instead of getting kids.)
I'm on BC right now because I had very strong and long periods, with sometimes bad cramps and iron deficiency. I'll probably have to get iron supplements as soon as my period gets back to "my normal", but if/when my period stops during pregnancy, that'll hopefully sort itself out again. I don't take any prenatal vitamins yet, but I take vitamin D since I'm not in the sunlight much and I have some mixed vitamins that are supposed to reduce headaches, which has folic acid in it. I'll probably switch to prenatal vitamins soonish. But I think switching now would be a little early since the process of getting off BC and the antidepressant will take a few more months and I expect the appointments and insurance beaurocracy to take some more. So I don't really expect to have a chance at a pregnancy before next autumn.
Since I don't have anyone close who needed IVF or who got pregnant despite having severe depression in the past, I'm not really sure if any of this is realistic. We'll have a first consultation at a fertility clinic next month and I hope they can give us more info and guidance on how to proceed. But if any of you beautiful people on reddit have some advice or tips, or can give me a reassurance that my current plan is decently realistic, I'd appreciate it a lot.